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An executive known as ‘Mr Fix-it’ with previous experience running casinos has joined beleaguered Crown Resorts as it faces a second royal commission.
Crown Resorts has aptly appointed an executive known as “Mr Fix-it” to its board as another member of the old guard departs and the embattled casino operator faces its second royal commission in as many months.
A large number of votes were lodged against the re-election of independent director John Horvath at the company’s annual general meeting in October, but he was saved by the backing of James Packer’s private firm Consolidated Press Holdings, which holds the biggest stake in Crown of about 36 per cent.
Professor Horvath – previously a personal physician to Mr Packer’s late father Kerry Packer and a chief medical officer of Australia – elected to leave nonetheless, with Crown saying at the time he would stay on “until alternative arrangements are put in place”.
On Monday before Western Australia’s royal commission into Crown kicked off, the gaming giant announced Professor Horvarth would retire on Wednesday.
It also announced Bruce Carter, who was previously deputy chair of SkyCity Entertainment Group and known as “Mr Fix-it” in South Australia under the Rann government, had joined the board as a non-executive director.
“Today’s announcements are the latest in an ongoing process of board renewal,” chair Helen Coonan said.
“Bruce brings to the Crown board the ideal blend of commercial, governance and gaming sector expertise and is respected across Australia for his contribution to corporate and government roles.”
Crown’s money laundering scandal has already claimed the scalps of key executives, including former chief executive Ken Barton, with NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority chair Philip Crawford agreeing the board needed to “blow itself up” to achieve redemption.
Royal commissions into the company in both WA and Victoria were sparked by the revelations from last year’s NSW probe, which heard shocking evidence about ill-gotten gains being flushed through Crown’s Perth and Melbourne venues.
ILGA ultimately found Crown was not suitable to hold a gaming licence for its new $2.2bn Barangaroo casino in Sydney.
Commissioner Patricia Bergin, who led the NSW investigation, concluded that evidence showed Crown turned a blind eye to money laundering at the venues, used aggressive marketing tactics in China that threatened the safety of staff and partnered with Asian junket tour operators with known links to organised crime.
Both the WA and Victoria royal commissions are looking into whether Crown and its close associates are suitable to hold a gaming licence.
The WA probe is also assessing whether the state’s Gaming and Wagering Commission is properly supported by the relevant government department to perform its role.
Chair Neville Owen said the probe would look into “grave matters of both private and public interest” including the socially responsible running of Crown’s Perth operations, and if the company was found unsuitable to keep its licence, “remedial measures” would be considered.
“We have serious matters to consider and we do so with an open mind,” the former WA Supreme Court justice said.
Given social changes since 1988, when Crown Perth was granted a gaming licence, there was an increased importance to such an inquiry, Mr Owen said.
The probe would recognise the contribution that the Burswood venue made to employment, recreation and tourism in the state, he added.
Two other commissioners are overseeing the probe – former WA Supreme Court justice Lindy Jenkins and the state’s former auditor general Colin Murphy.
An interim report is due to be handed down by June 30, with the final report following by November 14, and some sessions may have to be held in private or have confidentiality restrictions attached.
Substantive hearings are expected to start next month.
The Victorian royal commission began last month and is being overseen by former Federal Court judge and senior barrister Raymond Finkelstein, who will hand down his findings by August 1.
“We will of course reach our own decisions on the matters before us on the evidence that is presented to us,” Mr Owen said.
“However we believe the public would expect us to give due regard to conclusions reached by other properly constituted inquiries into the same or similar issues.”
Meanwhile, Crown is the subject of a takeover offer by US private equity giant Blackstone, which already has a 9.99 per cent stake in the company.
Mr Packer is reportedly open to selling his stake, which isn’t surprising given he has long been retreating from public business life, quitting the Crown board in 2018.
Nevertheless, Ms Bergin found his enduring influence over Crown had “disastrous consequences for the company” after hearing he had been the driving force behind the push to secure more of the Asian high-roller market at the centre of the scandal, with one of the most dire consequences of that push being the arrest of Crown staffers in China in 2016.
He also got special treatment, with briefings on an almost daily basis under a “controlling shareholder protocol”.
That arrangement has since been torn up, while the reclusive billionaire recently told The Australian he would sadly step back to being a passive investor.
Crown has a unique position in WA, as it is the state’s sole casino operator, with pokie machines not allowed outside the Perth complex, where it employs about 5500 people.
WA Premier Mark McGowan previously said the state government obviously had “no tolerance for criminality or any sort of inappropriate conduct going on in the casino”, but Crown Perth’s staff were a critical consideration.
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